Gov. Akinwunmi Ambode Commissions First State-Owned Helipad in LASUTH

The new helipad for medical emergency cases in LASUTH

Lagos State Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode on Thursday commissioned the first state-owned Helipad for medical emergencies in Nigeria at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), Ikeja, adding that the upgrading of the 247-bed and five Theatre Suits for pregnant women, popularly called Ayinke House, would be ready for use by 2017. Governor Ambode, who also inspected medical facilities at the LASUTH complex, said as part of efforts to transform the health sector in the State for optimal performance, the Bola Tinubu Health and Diagnostic Centre will soon become operational, while approval had been granted for the rehabilitation, upgrade and bulk purchase of medical equipments required in 20 Secondary and 21 Primary health facilities across the State.

EBOLA: WHO Declares New Vaccine 100% Effective

The world is for the first time on the verge of being able to protect humans against Ebola, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday, as data from a trial in Guinea showed a vaccine was 100 percent effective.

Initial results from the trial, which tested Merck and NewLink Genetics' VSV-ZEBOV vaccine on some 4,000 people who had been in close contact with a confirmed Ebola case, showed 100 percent protection after 10 days.

The results were described as "remarkable" and "game changing" by global health specialists.

"We believe that the world is on the verge of an efficacious Ebola vaccine," WHO vaccine expert Marie Paule Kieny told reporters in a briefing from Geneva.

The vaccine could now be used to help end the worst recorded outbreak of Ebola, which has killed more than 11,200 people in West Africa since it began in December 2013.

WHO Director-General Margaret Chan said the results, published online in the medical journal The Lancet, were an "extremely promising development".

LASUTH Doctors Empower Police with Emergency Response Skills

• L-R: President / CEO, Care Organisation Public Enlightenment, COPE, Mrs. Ebunola Anozie; MD, Eldorado Medic Jobs Recruitment Limited, Dr. Ibifunke Pegba-Otemolu, former Permanent Secretary, LSMoH, Dr. Femi Olugbile and MD/CEO, Health Bridge Trust Limited, Dr. Eno Angela Attah at a Career Opportunities for Healthcare Professionals Conference held in Lagos recently.

To fill gaps in  emergency response skills among first responders in Lagos, members of the Association of Resident Doctors of the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, LASUTH-ARD, last week trained officers and men of the Nigeria Police, on basic life support during emergencies.
The training was conducted for Area F Command, GRA, Ikeja alongside free medical outreach for members of the Force, even as the doctors called on the Federal Government to incorporate basic life training into the curriculum of the Nigeria Police College.

Bitter Kola Cure For Ebola, Study Still Ongoing - Iwu

Renowned Professor of Pharmacognosy, Maurice Iwu, yesterday, reiterated that a compound in garcinia kola also known as bitter kola, is a possible cure for the Ebola Virus Disease, saying that the study is however, in progress.

The former INEC Chairman explained that kola is an anti-viral product but much more importantly an anti-inflammatory agent, adding that anti-malaria drugs like Artemisinin and others are from a similar plant.

He stated this at a pre-summit briefing for the press and stakeholders for the 3rd Annual Clinical Trials Summit, by the Association of Good Clinical Practice in Nigeria (AGCPN), in collaboration with the National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC) and the Ministry of Defence Health Implementation Programme, held in Abuja.

Ayinke House Will Be Opened Before The End Of Gov. Fashola's Tenure - LASUTH CMD

Chief Medical Director, Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Ikeja, Prof. David Oke

The Chief Medical Director, Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Ikeja, Prof. David Oke, in this interview with BUKOLA ADEBAYO relates new development in the hospital

The Ayinke House – a maternity cllinic – has been shut down for renovation that has taken many years now. Why is that?

Ayinke House served pregnant women within and outside Lagos; but structural evaluation of the building some years ago showed that it was about to collapse. We closed it down and provided alternative maternal centres because the state government wanted to do a complete overhaul, which has taken a lot of investment and time.

Now, it is ready. The new Ayinke House has 139 beds, though the old one had 150 beds. You will say we are short of 11 beds, but the new ward is a lot more modern, with world-class equipment installed by international partners to provide safe and standard gynaecology and obstetrics care. It will be reopened before the end of the Babatunde Raji Fashola tenure.

JOHESU Threatens Fresh Nationwide Strike On May 8

The relative industrial peace presently being enjoyed in the nation’s health sector may be short lived if the Joint Health Sector Unions goes ahead with its nationwide strike scheduled for May 8.

The Union based its threat on the refusal of the Federal Government to accede to its 15-point demands, while several efforts to have a one-on-one meeting with President Goodluck Jonathan have yielded no positive response.

The health workers, therefore, offered a last reminder to meet the president before his tenure winds down on May 29, warning that everything should be done by stakeholders to avert the looming strike.

The Vice President of JOHESU and President of National Union of Allied Health Professionals, Mr. Felix Faniran, issued the threat on Tuesday in a directive to the union’s members nationwide.

'Evil' Twin Sister Found Inside Woman's Brain

An embryonic twin has been find inside a woman's brain while she was having surgery for a suspected tumour.

Doctors discovered the twin, known medically as a 'teratoma', complete with bone, hair and teeth, inside the brain of Yamini Karanam, 26.

Yamini sought medical help last September when she began to struggle with conversations and reading.

"If a couple of people were talking in the room, I wouldn't understand what was happening," Yamini told NBC Los Angeles.

"I just didn't imagine any of this."

See Benefits Of Egg In The Body

1. One egg contains 6 grams of high-quality protein and all 9 essential amino acids.

2. According to a study by the Harvard School of Public Health, there is no significant link between egg consumption and heart disease. In fact, according to one study, regular consumption of eggs may help prevent blood clots, stroke, and heart attacks.
3. They are a good source of choline. One egg yolk has about 300 micrograms of choline. Choline is an important nutrient that helps regulate the brain, nervous system, and cardiovascular system.

4. They contain the right kind of fat. One egg contains just 5 grams of fat and only 1.5 grams of that is saturated fat.

Mysterious Disease Outbreak Kills 27 in Ondo

Panic has hit Ondo state where based on the recent update 27 people have died from a mysterious unidentified ailment.

Channels TV reports that all the deaths have been recorded in Irele LGA of the state.

Dr Dayo Adeyanju, Ondo health commissioner, said that the disease is strange and it’s symptoms include headache and loss of sight.

He assured the residents that the local and international health institutions were already investigating the causes of the ailment and considering the effective ways of treatment.

In an attempt to allay the residents’ fears, Adeyanju said that the situation was under control.

OBESITY: Father To Sell Kidney To Treatment For 3 kids

An impoverished father has revealed that he plans to sell his own kidney to fund life-saving treatment for his three morbidly-obese children.

Sisters Yogita Rameshbhai Nandwana, five, and Anisha, three, and their 18-month-old brother Harsh, are among the world's heaviest young children.

Weighing 5st 5lbs (34kg), 7st 8lbs (48kg) and 2st 5lbs (15kg) respectively, the food they eat in a week is enough to feed two families in a month.

Now their father Rameshbhai Nandwana, 34, of Gurjarat, India, is planning to sell his kidney to earn the money needed to see top specialists.

He said: ‘If my kids continue to grow at this rapid rate they will have major health issues. We’re terrified they will die.’

Yogita and Anisha eat 18 chapatis, 3lbs of rice, two bowls of broth, six packets of crisps, five packs of biscuits, 12 bananas and a litre of milk daily.

And their extreme hunger means their mother Pragna Ben, 30, spends most of her day making their meals.

She said: ‘My day starts with making 30 chapatis and 1kg vegetable curry in the morning. After that I am again in the kitchen preparing more food.

Super-Bacteria Found in Olympic Event Waters

If fighting off "super-bacteria" was an Olympic sport, Rio de Janeiro could be an ideal place to hold the 2016 Games. Instead, it is looking like a pretty dangerous place to hold sailing and windsurfing events, according to a health institute. Researchers say a super-bug normally found in hospital waste has been detected in Guanabara Bay, where events will be held despite local beaches being considered unfit for swimming. Some 70% of the sewage from the city of 12 million flows untreated into local waters, including the bay, and officials have already admitted they won't meet their goal of cleaning it up before the Olympics, the BBC reports.

Drinking From A Can Could Be Dangerous to Health

Might want to make your next six-pack glass bottles. Cans and plastic bottles are lined with a controversial chemical called BPA, and while the CDC still says the chemical's health effects are unclear, research on chronic exposure has linked it to high blood pressure and heart rate issues. To test the effects of drinking from cans, researchers in South Korea provided 60 adults over the age of 60 with soy milk either in a can or a glass bottle. Urine tests showed that those who drank from cans saw BPA levels up to 1,600% higher than those who drank from bottles, according to a post at Eureka Alert.

MINI MINI MANI MO:Surgeon Relies on Memory, Removes Wrong Kidney

A federal inmate entered surgery in February 2013 thinking he would soon be free of his cancerous left kidney. When he emerged, he had lost his healthy right one instead. It was a mix-up that could have been easily avoided had California surgeon Dr. Charles Coonan Streit examined radiology and diagnostic tests, images, scans and pathology reports, as is standard protocol, the California Medical Board said last week. Instead, he relied on his memory as the patient's CT scans were left behind at another doctor's office, the Orange Country Register reports. The operation put the inmate's "future renal function in jeopardy" and prompted another surgery, the board said.

DISCOVERY:Obesity Can Snatch 8 Years Off Your Life!

 If you haven't yet grasped the danger of obesity, Canadian researchers have attempted to quantify it: Being obese can slash as many as eight years off your life—and leave you in ill health for up to 19 years before that death. Researchers compiled data from roughly 4,000 people of varying body weights, then created a computer model that estimates the risk of developing diabetes and cardiovascular disease and assesses how weight affects life expectancy. They found that severely obese men between 20 and 39 years of age lost 8.4 years of life compared to their healthy-weight counterparts. Women lost 6.1 years, the BBC reports. Further, those men experienced 18.8 more years of ill heath; the figure for women was 19.1.

Male Smokers Risk Losing Y Chromosomes

Even if general appeals to one's health aren't enough to convince people to quit smoking, perhaps this new research out of Sweden will give men some pause. An Uppsala University study published yesterday in Science says that male smokers are, on average, three times more likely to lose Y chromosomes as their nonsmoking counterparts, Reuters reports. The study also found that the more men smoked, the more Y chromosomes they lost,LiveScience reports. "The cells that lose the Y chromosome … don't die," says study co-author Lars Forsberg. "But we think that they … have a disrupted biological function." Specifically, that disrupted function may mean that blood cells missing the Y's can't fight off disease, he explains—and because only men have Y chromosomes, that cell-weakening could be the link to men's higher cancer rates.

Nail Polish Can Reduce A Baby's IQ

Want your baby's IQ to be a few points higher? Then keep it away from chemicals in household items like shower curtains, nail polish, and dryer sheets during pregnancy, a new study says. Researchers at Columbia University came to this conclusion after analyzing 328 women and their kids in New York City, CTV News reports. The research team measured how much the moms were exposed to chemicals called phthalates during the third trimester of pregnancy, and then, seven years later, gave their children IQ tests. Kids in the top 25% of chemical exposure scored 6.6 to 7.6 points lower. "The magnitude of these IQ differences is troubling," a senior study author tells Science Daily. "A six- or seven-point decline in IQ may have substantial consequences for academic achievement and occupational potential."

Arsenic Could Help Fight Against Breast Cancer

You probably associate arsenic more with health problems than with health benefits, but it seems the chemical could actually help in the fight against breast cancer. The news comes from a study of a city in Chile. Between 1958 and 1970, Antofagasta had way too much arsenic in its water: some 80 times the maximum amount recommended by the World Health Organization. Some forms of cancer, including those of the lung, bladder, and kidney, soared among locals, Ozy reports. But breast cancer mortality rates among women actually sank by 50%, UC Berkeley reveals in a press release; among women under 60, the figure was 70%.

Time Names Ebola Fighters Person of the Year

"For tireless acts of courage and mercy, for buying the world time to boost its defenses, for risking, for persisting, for sacrificing and saving, the Ebola fighters are Time's 2014 Person of the Year." So concludes editor Nancy Gibbs' piece on why this year's honor goes to a group of people who have "the hero's heart," those who freely put themselves at risk in order to fight the virus. Time shares the stories of a few of the many, some in their own words (Kaci Hickox and Dr. Kent Brantly penned their own stories). One nurse's assistant who survived Ebola describes hurt "like they are busting your head with an ax"—though a hurt perhaps second to watching her parents die. "I went out of my mind for about one week," says Salome Karwah. Timeultimately photographed more than 20 Ebola fighters in a dozen locations around the globe for its story.

Ebola Vaccine Trial Suspended Over Side Effects

Swiss researchers have suspended the testing of one of the leading Ebola vaccine candidates after some volunteers reported unexpected side effects. In a statement issued today, the University of Geneva Hospital said the trial—which had vaccinated 59 people since November—had been suspended "as a precautionary measure." Researchers reported four cases of mild joint pain in the hands and feet in people who got the shot 10 to 15 days earlier; before the joint pain kicked in, a handful of subjects experienced mild fever. "They are all fine and being monitored regularly by the medical team leading the study," the hospital says in a statement cited by Reuters.